Let's say you are in class one day, working on calculating the values of trig functions, when your instructor gives you an equation like this:

Can you solve this sort of equation? You might want to just calculate each term separately and then compute the result. However, there is another way. You can transform this product of trig functions into a sum of trig functions.

Read on, and by the end of this Concept, you'll know how to solve this problem by changing it into a sum of trig functions.

Watch This

In the second portion of this video you'll learn about Product to Sum formulas.

Guidance

Here we'll begin by deriving formulas for how to convert the product of two trig functions into a sum or difference of trig functions.

There are two formulas for transforming a product of sine or cosine into a sum or difference. First, let’s look at the product of the sine of two angles. To do this, we need to start with the cosine of the difference of two angles.

The following product to sum formulas can be derived using the same method:

Armed with these four formulas, we can work some examples.

Example A

Change
to a sum.

Solution:
Use the formula
. Set
and
.

Example B

Change
to a product.

Solution:
Use the formula
. Therefore,
and
. Solve the second equation for
and plug that into the first.

. Again, the sum of
and
is
and the difference is
.

Example C

Solve
.

Solution:
Use the formula
.

Vocabulary

Product to Sum Formula:
A
product to sum formula
relates the product of two trigonometric functions to the sum of two trigonometric functions.

Guided Practice

1. Express the product as a sum:

2. Express the product as a sum:

3. Express the product as a sum:

Solutions:

1. Using the product-to-sum formula:

2. Using the product-to-sum formula:

3. Using the product-to-sum formula:

Concept Problem Solution

Changing
to a product of trig functions can be accomplished using

Substituting in known values gives:

Practice

Express each product as a sum or difference.

Express each sum or difference as a product.

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Description

Examples of how to transform a product of trigonometric functions into a sum of trigonometric functions

Learning Objectives

Here you'll learn how to convert equations involving the product of sine and cosine functions into equations involving the sum of sine and cosine functions.